Their View: Editorial: Making America alone again

Tuesday

Jun 5, 2018 at 8:00 PM

The White House got great news last week — 223,000 new jobs created in May, unemployment at 3.8 percent the lowest in almost two decades, African-American employment at an all-time best, wages inching up.

While it is important to come to these numbers with some perspective — by our count that 223,000 number was topped 33 times during the Obama era, generally considered a time of mediocre growth coming out of a historic recession — there’s no mistaking the news for being anything but positive.

And then the president threatened to undo all those gains, helped along by his deregulation efforts and tax cuts, by imposing tariffs — specifically a 25 percent tax on imported steel, 10 percent on aluminum — on Canada, Mexico and the European Union under the ludicrous and laughable guise of it being a national security issue. Last time we checked, those nations were allies, not enemies, though they may be rethinking that relationship.

Indeed, trade is not just an economic issue but a tool of foreign policy. The anger of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was palpable as he called the tariffs an “attack” both “insulting and unacceptable.” Beyond that: “These tariffs are an affront to the long-standing security partnership between Canada and the United States, and in particular, to the thousands of Canadians who have fought and died alongside American comrades in arms.”

Meanwhile, at a Group of Seven meeting of the top industrialized democracies Friday just after the announcement, the United States was treated with uncommon contempt. “Deeply deplorable,” said a representative of Japan. The “G-6 plus one,” said a representative of France.

This may be the president’s idea of “making America great again,” but it may be more accurate to say he’s making American alone again. When operating on the world stage, is it possible to have too many friends?

We are free traders here, both philosophically and pragmatically, and parochially speaking make no apologies for that. While it has its ups and downs, on balance we believe it wholly preferable to the protectionism the White House seems to prefer, in apparent ignorance of history’s lessons. This is not an “America First” strategy at all but a self-inflicted injury by a president working at cross purposes with himself.

First, all the tariff targets have promised retaliation, and some have already acted. Americans farmers seem likely to take it on the chin the hardest. American manufacturers — think Caterpillar, the auto industry — reportedly are already facing a 40 percent hike in steel prices this year. This move is bad news for central Illinois. It favors the few at the expense of the many.

It especially makes no sense with Canada, which buys more U.S. steel than any other nation, about half of what we send elsewhere. While Canada also exports more steel — and aluminum — to the U.S. than any other nation, we enjoy a $2 billion trade surplus with them in that sector.

Meanwhile, the handling of this was typical Trump. The president tweeted the jobs report, generally if not specifically, before it was released publicly by the Labor Department, breaking with longstanding protocol given its not-always-healthy implications for the markets and other factors. And with the tariffs he irritated likely more Republicans than Democrats, who recognize it for what it is: ultimately a tax on American consumers, a potential punch to U.S. workers.

The administration says we’re all “overreacting.” Suppose we’ll see just how golden its touch continues to be.

For us it’s simple: If the U.S. represents but 5 percent of the world’s population, it is an economic imperative that we be able to trade with the other 95 percent. These tariffs arguably just made that harder.

GateHouse News Service. This editorial originally appeared in the Peoria Journal Star.

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